ABCNEWS.com : Software Company to End Pop-Up Ad Deluge

Obnoxious pop-up company D Squared - the firm that exploited a loophole in Microsoft Windows to deliver system-generated windows that pop-up blockers were powerless to defeat - settled a civil suit brought by the FTC. D Squared agreed to stop sending the pop-ups and selling its main product: pop-up blocking software.

The FTC had alleged that the D Square ads implied that users couldn't simply change their system settings to prevent future D Squared ads. Lawyers for the two D Squared owners said that the co-founders were not really trying to extort viewers with their in-your-face ads, calling the pop-ups "annoyances you have to deal with in a free society."